


The Cat's Thousand Cuts

by RicochetXD



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Blanc - Freeform, F/M, Hawk Daddy is Stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27628874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RicochetXD/pseuds/RicochetXD
Summary: After Ladybug has to fix the Chat Blanc situation for the fourth time, she decides it's time that she and her white kitty have a talk.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 101





	The Cat's Thousand Cuts

She was getting tired of her kitty knowing who she was.

She was getting tired of revisiting a destroyed world.

She was getting tired of stopping what seemed like an inevitable future.

But she knew, she had to. Because  _ this _ future was one neither of them wanted.

But she also knew she had to find out why it kept happening.

_ Four times _ . Four times that Bunnyx had called her to take care of a certain white cat.

And that didn’t include the times that Bunnyx had taken care of the problem herself.

Which Ladybug supposed included Bunnyx going back in time to prevent Chat from finding out who she was, over and over.

How was he so good at this?

Or bad, she should say.

But, in all of this, she had realized a common factor.

And it was time to talk instead of fight.

If she could.

She gazed out at an unfamiliar rooftop, at a Paris that looked like a bomb had gone off.

Destroyed buildings, aftermaths of people, but thankfully no water. And no cracked moon. The incident was isolated this time. Just Paris, it seemed.

Should she be thankful for that?

_ Small mercies _ , her head reminded her.

And it only took a moment for her to find the dang cat.

It was like her eyes had been trained to spot him, now that she’d been to this bleak, desolate future more than once. All white and eerie and devoid of color and  _ not Chat Noir _ .

She could feel that he was still there.

She always did.

But where Noir was bright and full of color and life, Blanc was… barely anything. Not that she couldn’t see her kitty there. He was clearly still oh so devoted to her.

But the problem was there, wasn’t it?

He was devoted to the point of wanting to undo his mistake.

And it eerily reminded her of Hawk Moth.

Not to mention, she’d noticed it last time, but he  _ remembered _ . Regular Chat Noir afterward might not, but Chat Blanc? Each new timeline, he treated it like it had happened before.

He bantered with her in ways that should only be possible if he had  _ known _ where it was heading.

So, she steeled herself, and called out, “Chat!”

The white cat’s ears perked up and he turned around, bouncing down to her with the same excited gait he always did when he first greeted her. 

“My Lady!” he smiled, his impossibly blue eyes wide with affection. “You’re here! I’ve been waiting for you.” He rubbed himself against her shins before sliding up and wrapping his arms around her, a purr rumbling in his chest. “Now things are going to go back to the way they were. Everything will be better again.”

Ladybug could have pushed him away. She really could have. But, over time, she’d realized that what she was seeing in Chat Blanc wasn’t a crazed psycho. She was seeing a damaged kid whose emotions were raw. Painful. Hurt.

Pushing him away hadn’t really worked.

They’d only ever gotten her in a fight with him.

And, even now that she knew where the akuma was, it might be best to figure out the  _ why _ .

“Chat,” she said, her voice soft, putting her hand on his arm. “Before we fix everything, I have a couple questions for you.”

Chat’s purr stopped abruptly and then he pulled away, his expression falling, turning into the same flat look that she was used to. “Of course, Marinette.”

Rather abrupt mood swings, weren’t they?

Well, she knew the cause.

_ She _ was the cause.

“Chat,” she said, “You… I… we…” She took a breath and steadied herself, facing him. “Do you remember the other times you were Chat Blanc? The… other timelines?”

A ghost of a smile fell across his lips. “ _ Yessssssssss _ ,” he responded in a near hiss.

“How?” she asked.

He chuckled darkly. “Hard to forget when it keeps happening.”

He fell down into a crouch and then butted his head against her thigh, content to apparently breathe in her smell and fall back on his animal instincts for this.

That was fine.

Whatever he needed to make it stop happening.

“You…” she paused before she said, “You remember. I  _ knew _ it.” She rubbed her face and then continued. “Why? Why does it keep happening? Is it finding out my identity? Is that something bad? You… said the first time that our love broke the world. But that’s not… I don’t understand.”

Chat Blanc’s ears twitched and he gave her a lopsided smile. “Of course you do, Bugaboo. Although, I admit I was probably being overdramatic the first time around. It wasn’t  _ our _ love. It was  _ his _ .”

“His who?” she asked. This was a new factor. Something important. Something she had missed. She crouched down. “Who?”

“Hawk Moth,” he said in response. “A man who’s grand plan is to give a boy with the power of destruction who is barely holding  _ that _ in  _ infinite _ destruction. Like that can ever go wrong. Bang! Universe gone. I could do it. I’ve almost done it a couple times.”

She knew.

Hell she knew that.

“Not a very smart man,” she muttered. But that wasn’t the point. “So… Hawk Moth is responsible. Not…” she pursed her lips, leaving the sentence unsaid.  _ Not us _ .

Chat’s smile turned nasty. “Oh, we’re just as much to blame. Or maybe I am. Because how am I supposed to save both of you? I can’t. I can’t save both the woman I love and a man who never gave a shit about me. That’s not logical. So the only thing that comes out of it is  _ PAIN _ .”

“Why would you want to save  _ Hawk Moth _ ?” she asked.

“I mean I  _ could _ tell you,” he said in response, his blue eyes focused on her. “But you don’t  _ want _ to know. It’d spoil this one-sided identity surprise.”

No, she didn’t want to know who Chat Noir was. If she knew Chat Blanc, she’d know Chat Noir too. That was just… how it was. She had to protect their identities. Especially if  _ this _ was the result of them knowing.

“Marinette,” he mewed, bringing her back to the present. “I  _ love _ you. I was  _ so happy _ when I found it was you.  _ We _ are  _ always _ happy. But I can’t remember until I’m Chat Blanc again. It’s  _ sad _ . If I knew, I’d be able to stop it from happening. I’ve tried.”

That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean, you’ve tried?”

“To remember,” he responded. “Sometimes… when I’m the other me… I can  _ almost _ remember. But I don’t. I never get the warning.”

“I think it’d be best if you  _ didn’t _ remember this, kitty,” Ladybug responded quietly. Okay. So maybe this was an inevitable future if she didn’t have all the facts. So she needed those. “Chat, don’t tell me who Hawk Moth is. But tell me… why would you want to save him?”

He let out a small hiss and then spat out, “Family. Apparently.”

“Family?” she repeated, alarm entering her voice. Oh.  _ Oh no _ . “He’s your family, Chat?”

Chat tilted his head back and laughed. It was not a nice sound. Something raw, and primal, and full of pain. A sound that she knew she’d have nightmares about. In addition to everything else.

“He’s my family, yeah,” Chat sneered at the word. “ _ Close _ family,” he emphasized. 

“But… you’re akumatized…” she trailed off, trying to wrap her head around that.

“Never said we were a  _ loving _ family,” the white cat pointed out. His grin spread over his face, so… familiar. Like he was trying to keep his full anger from showing. But it showed. It definitely showed. In his eyes.

“He used me every day as a citizen. I, for one, am not surprised that he’d take advantage of my shock and pain to turn me into a  _ real _ monster.”

Ladybug bit her lip. “You’re not a monster, Chat.”

“Aren’t I?” he asked, and looked out over the broken landscape. “I’m the only one alive in Paris right now. Even you died. I  _ killed _ you.”

“Because you’re akumatized,” she reasoned in response. “You can’t control it.”

He let out a small laugh, almost like a hiss, “Oh really? Hawk Moth is dead. His voice isn’t in my head anymore. So  _ why _ do I keep wanting things I can’t have?  _ Why _ do I want to hurt you so badly?”

Her heart ached and a swell of pity ran through her. She reached out, her hands finding his face, brushing back his hair from his eyes. He gazed at her impassively with ice blue eyes. But she  _ knew _ those eyes. “Do you trust me, kitty?”

She could see it, the slight flicker in his gaze, the way those intense blue eyes softened. “Always,” he breathed.

“And what do you need from me, kitty? Right now. What do you need?” she asked, her voice becoming stronger as he melted. 

She had clarity. Maybe not enough. She needed more. She  _ would  _ need more. But she knew she’d find out someday. And she needed to wait for that. She needed to live it.

“Save me,” he whispered, just like the first time. He reached a hand up and touched her wrist. “Save me, Marinette. Please…”

There was a fire in her stomach. “I will,” she said, her voice firm. “Every time. No matter what. I will save you just as many times as you saved me.”

Because she understood.

He’d been taking hits for her for years.

The least she could do was this.

“This won’t be our future,” she declared. “We  _ will _ make it to the other side. To the future that Bunnyx comes from.  _ Together _ .”

She could see the relief in his eyes as he guided her hand down to his bell.

“I love you,” he said, the conviction in the words undeniable.

“I know,” she responded, pulling the bell off of him.

And, if the future was any indication, so did she.

She swallowed.

_ That _ was something she’d think about later.

For now…

She broke the bell.

And set things right.

_ Four times _ .

She had a feeling there’d be many more ahead of her. 

Many more opportunities to talk to a hurting white kitten and understand  _ what exactly it was _ that drove him to that point. Many more opportunities to plan and to fix it and make sure it never happened.

Because that wasn’t their future.

Their future wasn’t so bleak and pale.

No, it was as vibrant as Chat Noir’s laugh.

And she couldn’t help the small amount of anticipation that built up in her stomach.

_ Just you wait, Hawk Moth. We’ll make it to the other side. _

There was no future that was inevitable.

The future was crafted with their own hands.

And Ladybug had long ago decided on hers.

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of an abrupt ending. I'm sorry. This has been hanging around in my docs for a while and I wanted to share it. I didn't really know how to end it though. So there it is.


End file.
